Tyne and Wear Travel Guide — Things to Do, Food & Hotels
county in England
About Tyne and Wear
This area was industrial even in the 13th century, through coal-mining, salt-panning, glass-blowing and quarrying. Newcastle grabbed a monopoly on coal and became a county in its own right in 1400, while the other settlements were villages or small towns each around their own coal pits and wharves on the rivers Tyne or Wear. North of the Tyne (except Newcastle) was the county of Northumberland, and south was County Durham. The population grew rapidly from the 19th century when deep mining reached lucrative seams, railways and steam power arrived, and the riverbanks rang with the hammers of shipbuilders. The towns grew into a single sprawling conurbation, with a mix of urban squalour and confident Georgian and Victorian civic architecture. The historic counties became unbalanced between the
Tyne and Wear Travel Guide Sections
Our comprehensive guide covers 11 sections including: